Guess Which Other Former Democrat Came Second in the Iowa Republican Caucuses?

On the sizzling heels of Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) victory in Monday night's Iowa caucuses, there has been a rush by the media to topple the candidacy of Iowa runner-up Donald Trump like some gold-plated, questionably-coiffed Saddam Hussein statue. For Trumpians looking for comfort beyond Microsoft conspiracy theories, history has some hope for them.

On the sizzling heels of Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) victory in Monday night's Iowa caucuses, there has been a rush by the media to topple the candidacy of Iowa runner-up Donald Trump like some gold-plated, questionably-coiffed Saddam Hussein statue. For Trumpians looking for comfort beyond Microsoft conspiracy theories, history has some hope for them.

In fact, Ronald Reagan got 14,000 fewer votes while losing Iowa to George HW Bush than Trump did in his bid for the state Monday night. In the run-up to that defeat, Reagan's national lead was even greater than Trump's, 27 points over his next competitor, and 32 points over Iowa victor Bush. Coincidentally, Donald Trump leads Jeb Bush by 31 points in the national polling average.

Now, I know there will be naysayers who will point out that there were other, quite significant differences between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Different first letter in their first names, for example, or how about their campaign slogans?

Ted Cruz's victory over Donald Trump last night was a spectacular coup for the senator from Texas. While it doesn't mean he is a shoo-in for the nomination, the psychological effect it will have on the Republican electorate cannot be underestimated.

Well, that didn't take long. After going silent on twitter for almost a full day after handily losing Iowa to fellow nut job Ted Cruz, Donald Trump came roaring back to life to accuse his opponent of stealing the election.

As the stakes in the 2016 election get higher, the campaigns and their accompanying coverage get weirder and weirder. I'm not just talking about the big things, like Marco Rubio's human blue screen of death or Donald Trump calling Ted Cruz a pussy, but the lesser-noticed things that illustrate what's wrong with everything.